Friday, 10 January 2014

Christine Russell - Still Life in Pastels

Christine achieved some brilliant and subtle colour with pastels. The photos don't do her justice.

She set up a triangular composition with a black backdrop and lit it from the front right. The diagonal with red stripes in the photo is not part of the composition but the leg of her easel.

She began by quickly sketching in some outlines of the brass pot and the apples, making sure that the oval shape of the pot top was horizontal. She told us she works top to bottom and applies darks before lights. Blending with the fingers is only used for backgrounds. All other blending is done using the pastels themselves by applying pigment with a light touch.